From farm girl to fame. Country singer Lainey Wilson grew up on a farm in northeast Louisiana. Let’s take a look at how she turned those southern roots into songs.
Lainey Wilson is a singer-songwriter from Baskin, Louisiana. She moved from that small farming community in Franklin Parish to Nashville in 2011.
“Baskin, Louisiana-- 300 people, 299 once I left. Just a tiny town full of good people,” she states. “This town right here is a town that shaped who I am and shaped the kind of music that I write. I love me some Baskin; I love coming home.”
But, she knew, ever since she was 9 years old, Music City would be her home.
“We went and saw Dollywood... on the way back to Baskin, I begged my parents to just drive through Nashville, and they had never been either. I remember exactly where I was on the interstate-- in the backseat, I was staying at the Batman building, I was on I-40, and in the back seat I said ‘this is home’... it’s this crazy thing I’ve always known,” she explains.
However, it was even earlier than that, her parents knew she would be a singer.
According to her mom, “Even when she was little I knew this was where she was going to be. Where she was going to travel... Now, it hasn’t been easy.”
She grew up on a farm. Her father Brian grows corn, wheat, and oats. He says that it is not unusual for her to want to come home and do what she did as a kid.
“It’s fun to come home, and they’ll throw me on a tractor... Feels good to get back to my roots,” Lainey adds.
She loves to drive a tractor and help her dad. She also loves to shoot guns, ride horses, and kick up some dust in the side-by-side. But, home is not a break from the music-- just the opposite.
“I just get so inspired when I come back here... this is a blue collar town; so many people just bust their tail here to provide for their families, and the people here inspire me.”
Here inspired songwriting led to a publishing deal and that turned into a record deal, and after a decade, finally hearing her songs on the radio: “It made me feel like that little 9-year-old girl on the interstate, in Nashville looking at the Batman Building wasn’t completely crazy.”
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